Most email programs will tell you when a new email arrives, preferably in as many ways as possible to make sure it doesn’t escape your attention. Although it might seem smart to stay on top of the news as it comes in, it’s actually pretty counterproductive – each notification is distracting you from the task at hand. In the end, neither the email nor the thing you were working on is getting your full attention.
It’s a lose-lose situation. So, turn off your email notifications (on your mobile devices, too) – think of it as sanity security. The email will be there waiting for you when you have time to give it your undivided attention.
So how do we turn notifications off? Since there are multiple ways of receiving your mail we have set up instructions for some of the most common ways: